by chance

phrase

: in the haphazard course of events

they met by chance

Examples of by chance in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Coffman came across the township by chance while looking for gold along the Feather River in 1970, according to SFGate. — Camila Pedrosa, Sacbee.com, 22 Sep. 2026

For instance, a transposon fused in the right location can, by chance, create a novel protein that goes on to regulate other genes spread throughout the genome. — Jake Buehler, Quanta Magazine, 21 Sep. 2026

The two had met by chance at a restaurant in New Jersey and things escalated from there. — Lauryn Overhultz, FOXNews.com, 20 Sep. 2026

The necessary alignment happens by chance, and once an event is over, exactly that same alignment will generally never occur again. — Thomas Fauchez, The Conversation, 14 Sep. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for by chance

• advance
• askance
• enhance
• expanse
• finance
• freelance
• mischance
• perchance
• romance
• circumstance
• esperance
• exceedance